By Lilybeth G. Ison

MANILA, Aug. 4 -- Malacanang on Monday welcomed the issuance by the Supreme Court of a temporary restraining order (TRO) on the scheduled signing tomorrow of a memorandum of agreement (MoA) on Ancestral Domain between the Philippine government and the seccessionist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

MANILA, Aug. 4 -- The Supreme Court (SC) on Monday announced that it has formed a three-man panel, composed of three retired justices, that will look into the case of the warring Court of Appeals (CA) justices. SC spokesperson Jose Midas Marquez, in an interview, said that the retired justices include Carolina Griño-Aquino, Flerida Ruth Romero and Romeo Callejo.

GMANews.TV

MANILA, Philippines - The controversial Japan Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (Jpepa) may be brought back to the Senate floor on Wednesday, with possibly a "pleasant surprise." DZBB’s Nimfa Ravelo reported that Senate foreign relations committee chair Miriam Santiago would not elaborate on the "pleasant surprise."

ILOILO CITY, Aug 4 – Iloilo City is looking into possible funding sources for its targeted 2009 PhP965 million budget.

GENERAL SANTOS CITY, Aug 5 –- Heavy rains accompanied by strong winds and hails destroyed several houses Sunday afternoon in at least two remote villages in Banga town, South Cotabato.

CEBU CITY, Aug. 4 -- Two lounges at the Mactan-Cebu International Airport Authority (MCIAA) will soon have digital signages featuring audio-visual presentations (AVPs) from the Department of Tourism (DOT).

ILIGAN CITY, Philippines - Iliganons will wear red and flock the streets Monday to protest the signing of a deal between the government and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) regarding additional areas that will be included in the expanded Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

MANILA, Aug. 3 -- A lawmaker has filed a bill seeking to implement a career awareness program for students to boost their career opportunities.

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has set a series of meetings with bakers and flour millers to possibly prevent another looming price hike in bread products. In a radio interview, Luisito Chavez, vice president of the Philippine Federation of Bakers, said bakers and flour millers will meet with DTI officials on Monday and Tuesday to thresh out pricing issues.

KIDAPAWAN CITY, Aug. 3 -- Despite the invitation, Cotabato 2nd district Rep. Bernardo Pinol, Jr., has no plans, whatsoever, of witnessing what the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) claimed as the historic signing in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia of a document, believed to be a product of years of political negotiations.

GMANews.TV

MANILA, Philippines - Police recovered landmines and bomb ingredients in a mountainous area believed to be a New People's Army (NPA) base in Mauban town in Quezon province, a radio report said Sunday.

GMANews.TV

MANILA, Philippines - The National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) suspended early Monday classes at the elementary and high school levels in 11 areas in northern and Central Luzon.

By Lilybeth G. Ison

MANILA, July 30 -- Malacanang on Wednesday said three major telecommunications companies have expressed willingness to extend their short-term reduction in fees on text messages.

MANILA, July 30 -- President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has certified as urgent a bill calling for the postponement of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) elections set for August 11.

MANILA, July 30 — The Court of Appeals (CA) justice who penned the controversial ruling junking the Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) order preventing the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) from including proxy votes in the controversial stockholders' meeting last May 27 said Wednesday that nothing irregular has been done and that he merely complied with the appellate court’s reorganization order brought about the retirement of four associate justices earlier this year.

CEBU CITY, July 30 – An official of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) 7 said at least three hospitals in Cebu City are ready to handle medical tourists.

ILOILO CITY, July 30 -- The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) identified on Wednesday various rehabilitation projects to be funded through supplemental budget worth P1-billion from the Katas ng EVAT.

CEBU CITY, July 30 – Cebu City health officials said the city recorded four new cases of HIV-Aids in just six months this year.

MANILA, July 29 -- President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said bluntly on Monday that fuel and food prices are likely to remain high, and that the sooner the people embrace this reality, the better for everybody.

MANILA, July 29 -- The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) signed on Tuesday a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with the Presidential Anti-Smuggling Group (PASG) which combined the anti-smuggling operations of the two agencies into coordinated campaign against big-time smuggling syndicates.

By Lilybeth G. Ison

MANILA, July 29 -- Malacanang on Tuesday said it is considering to propose to Congress for a P1.4 trillion budget for 2009.

DUMAGUETE CITY, July 29 – The Negros Oriental State University (NORSU) here has introduced five foreign languages as part of its curriculum to prepare students to become globally competitive, according to university president, Dr. Henry A. Sojor.

ILOILO CITY, July 29 -- A top local official has urged members of the Philippine National Police (PNP) to act on the reported 'shabu talipapa' at the waterfront area here.

CEBU CITY, July 29 -– The Cebu City Government has increased by at least seven percent its collection efficiency rating for housing loans, four months after urban poor organizations held a general assembly and discussed their concerns.

BY JOHANNA CAMILLE SISANTE, GMANews.TV

MANILA, Philippines - Government and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) officials will sign the final draft of the memorandum of agreement (MOA) on ancestral domain on August 5.

By Gloria Jane Baylon

MANILA, July 28 — Funding for education amounting to P10.48 billion and freshly-instituted scholarships for 70,000 public school students worth another P1 billion would be gone if the value-added tax (VAT) were to be abolished, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said in an impassioned plea for its non-abolition in her State of the Nation Address (SONA) this afternoon.

By Lilybeth G. Ison

MANILA, July 28 -- President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on Monday called on Congress to pass seven important bills. In her state of the nation address (SONA), the President said there are those who say that agrarian reform in the Philippines is a failure as the country continues to import rice.

DAVAO CITY, July 28 -- Davao fruit growers expressed concern over massive harvest losses in the wake of recent pest attacks that caused an estimated 80 percent reduction of yield during the past months.

MANILA, July 28 -- The National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) said Monday at least three persons were missing while 6,014 others were affected as typhoon "Igme" passed through Northern Luzon over the weekend. The NDCC reported that two of the missing were from Ilocos Norte, while the third was from La Union.

ILOILO CITY, July 28 – The Department of Agriculture (DA) here is set to embark on a piglet restocking project to produce and maintain good quality bloodline of pigs that will be dispersed to backyard raisers.

MANILA, Philippines - The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) received a $1 million US government grant, allowing the Philippines’ largest revenue source to reduce tax evasion.

MANILA, July 27 -- The National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) has announced there will be no classes in the elementary and high school levels in Metro Manila on Monday (July 28).

MANILA, July 27 -- Speaker Prospero C.Nograles today said the House of Representatives is committed to pass 87 more measures touching on the economy, environment, political reforms, education and poverty alleviation starting July up to December this year.

KIDAPAWAN CITY, July 27 -– If peace would reign in Mindanao, millions of funds from the Arab countries will pour in the region, especially in areas dominated by the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), according to Prof. Nur Misuari, chair of the MNLF.

BUTUAN CITY, July 27 -– Officials of both the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and local government units here have agreed to join forces in keeping the rivers in Central Mindanao from further deterioration due to "irresponsible" mining.

DAVAO CITY, July 27 -– An Information Technology student (not nursing, as earlier reported) who was critically wounded in the Metro Shuttle bomb blast succumbed to shrapnel wounds Friday dawn while being treated at the Davao Medical Center (DMC) here.

CAIRO, July 28 -- An Egyptian court on Sunday acquitted five of six defendants of Al-Salam 98 ferryboat fire case that killed more than 1,000 passengers on board in early 2006, the official MENA news agency reported.

RODRIGUEZ, Rizal, July 24 -- President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo inaugurated Thursday the country’s first-ever landfill gas-to-energy project in this town formerly known as Montalban.

MANILA, July 24 -- A woman and her two minor children filed on Thursday afternoon Pph10 million civil damages before the Manila Regional Trial Court (RTC) against the embattled Sulpicio Lines Inc. (SLI) for the death of the widow’s husband who was one of the passengers of the ill-fated M/V Princess of the Stars which capsized off Sibuyan Island, Romblon on June 21.

MANILA, July 24 - After the weekly price adjustment, independent oil players are not implementing any this weekend for their petroleum products.

ZAMBOANGA CITY, July 24 -- The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) will provide a P74.4-million scholarship grants and loans for Zamboanga Peninsula region and in the island provinces of Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) starting this year.

ILOILO CITY, July 24 – Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas has urged his constituents to do clean up activities in their respective areas to get rid of dengue-carrying mosquitoes as dengue cases in the city are on the rise.

By Jason B. Neola

NAGA CITY, July 24 -- The city government recently entered into a contract buying agreement with two local junk shop operators to capitalize from plastic wastes, while reducing, if not totally eliminating, the volume of non-biodegradable materials dumped daily at the Naga City Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) in Barangay Balatas here.

MANILA, July 23 -- President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has appointed former senator Ralph Recto as the new director-general of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA).

MANILA, July 23 — Supreme Court (SC) Chief Justice Reynato S. Puno on Wednesday said that the high court’s latest automated tool, the case management information system (CMIS), will prove to be a great help in de-clogging the dockets and courts of superfluous cases.

MANILA, July 23 -- The release of the findings and recommendations by the Board of Marine Inquiry (BMI) regarding the M/V Princess of the Stars tragedy would be delayed further after Vice Admiral Wilfredo Tamayo, Philippine Coast Guard commandant, returned on Wednesday the report to the fact-finding body for insufficiency of supporting papers. On Tuesday, the BMI officially submitted to Tamayo the findings and recommendation for review.

CEBU CITY, July 23 – President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo ON Wednesday ordered the Maritime Industry Authority (Marina) to start the reaudit of vessels owned by Sulpicio Lines, owner of the ill-fated Princess of the Stars which sank at the height of typhoon Frank on June 21 off Sibuyan Island in Romblon.

BOKOD, Benguet July 23 -- The new highway linking Baguio-Nueva Vizcaya provinces has attracted more opening of new business and tourist attractions in northern Luzon.

DAVAO CITY, July 23 – Some 3,000 seafarers and allied workers will be deployed in international cruise ships through a job fair to be held in Davao City on August 6 to 8.

DATU ODIN SINSUAT, Shariff Kabunsuan, July 22 -- President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo this morning launched at the Dinaig Municipal Hospital (DMH) here the P500-M 'Katas ng EVAT' program for the upgrading of primary hospitals to secondary hospitals.

MANILA, July 22 - Pampanga Archbishop Paciano Aniceto clarified on Tuesday that they are not against the people, particularly the lawmakers, behind the reproductive health measure but against the bill itself.

By Gloria Jane Baylon

MANILA, July 22 -- The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) is warning Filipino workers anew against job recruitment scams via the internet, following several reports from actual and would-be victims, including POEA administrator Rosalinda Baldoz herself.

By Leonard D. Acosta

LEGAZPI CITY, July 22 -- A lawmaker from Bicol has urged the Catholic church to step out of the population management concerns, saying it is not exactly the authority to speak about the issue.

ILOILO CITY, July 22 - A delegation from the city of Medan, Indonesia is in this city July 22-23 on a water sanitation exchange program between the two cities corollary to the proposed sisterhood city agreement soon.

ZAMBOANGA CITY, July 22 -- Commission on Elections (COMELEC) will implement measures to ensure journalists are protected while covering the August 11 elections in Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

By Lilybeth G. Ison

POLOMOLOK, South Cotabato, July 21 -- Malacanang on Monday said it hopes for the Philippines to ratify soon the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) charter like what Myanmar did, but stressed it won't rush the Senate into doing it.

By Marie S. Neri

MANILA, July 21 --Professionals can now secure their license after just an hour with the Professional Regulation Commission's (PRC) newly-launched “FAST ID” scheme.

MANILA, July 21 -- Department of Education (DepEd) Secretary Jesli Lapus on Monday said he supports the proposal of Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez for a nationwide ban on mobile telephones in schools to put an end to class mischief using the modern telecommunications gadget.

DUMAGUETE CITY, July 21 – After a long wait and persistent requests from parents at a remote area in southern Negros Oriental, the Department of Education (DepEd) and the provincial government finally opened the first-ever high school there.

SAN JOSE, Antique, July 21 – Government doctors have allayed fears on the toxic substance that is reportedly contaminating the waters of Antique as an aftermath of the capsized cargo vessel.

DAGUPAN CITY, July 21 —- The city mayor here has expressed shock over the voluntarily relief of the city police chief when the latter was implicated to the shabu laboratory that was busted in sitio Binmotobot, Naguilian, La Union last July 9.

KIDAPAWAN CITY, July 20 -– President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will visit Makilala town in North Cotabato tomorrow (Monday) to see for herself how the national government could help improve the lives of the residents of this rubber-producing province, and accelerate the modernization of the rubber industry here.

MANILA, July 20 - Heeding the call of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, oil companies on Sunday announced the implementation of a price rollback of P1.50 per liter for diesel.

MANILA, July 20 -- The Philippine government received kudos from international experts over its handling of toxic materials in the sunken Princess of the Stars off Sibuyan Island.

NORTHERN SAMAR, July 20 -- The local electric cooperative here which is the only supplier of electricity in the entire province has admitted that it has inaccurately computed the proposed power rate hike which has already been printed in the flier that have been distributed to some electric consumers in Catarman town.

By Mike U. Crismundo

ILIGAN CITY, July 20 - Thirty five mayors in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) are opposing the postponement of the region’s August 11 polls, this was learned on Sunday.

BALANGA CITY, Bataan, July 20 -- Balanga City has been included as one of the birdwatching sites in the country, City Mayor Jose Enrique Garcia III announced Sunday.

MANILA, Philippines - The Supreme Court has upheld Malacanang’s invocation of executive privilege in refusing to make a full disclosure of the terms of the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA).

MANILA, July 16 -- The Government of the Republic of the Philippines-Moro Islamic Liberation Front (GRP-MILF) peace panels currently holding talks in Kuala Lumpur is close to agreeing on the contentious issues that could be the last obstacle leading to the holding of the formal peace talks that would provide a political settlement to the decades-old problem in Mindanao.

MANILA, July 16 -- President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo announced Wednesday that the government is now ready to shift into high gear its bio-fuel energy program as the first step to end the country’s dependency to imported crude oil. She made the announcement at the Forum on Alternative Fuel for Public Transport at the Philippine Trade and Training Center (PTTC) in Pasay City.

GMANews.TV

MANILA, Philippines - World Boxing Council lightweight champion Emmanuel "Manny" Pacquiao will visit Western Visayas on Thursday and donate P3 million to victims of typhoon "Frank" in the region.

DUMAGUETE CITY, July 16 – The province of Negros Oriental will see an increase in supply of rice and corn at the onset of the harvest season, said Provincial Agriculturist Gregorio Paltinca.

BAROBO, Surigao del Sur, July 16 -– An undetermined number of communist insurgents were believed killed in a gunbattle between patrolling combat troops and communist insurgents Wednesday morning at Sitio Logdeck, Barangay Javier, Barobo town here.

By Gloria Jane Baylon

MANILA, July 15 -- The Las Piñas Boys Choir (LPBC), all students of the sectarian St. Joseph’s Academy (SJA), won the world championship at the recently-concluded 5th World Choir Games held in the European city of Graz, Austria. The competitions were conducted from July 9 to 14.

By Lilybeth G. Ison

PLACER, Masbate, July 15 -- President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on Tuesday afternoon bared another P4 billion financial assistance for the poor that would come from the April to June excess collection on the value added tax (VAT) on oil.

MANILA, July 15 -- To enable teachers and non-teaching personnel to cope with the stress brought by the devastation of typhoon “Frank” recently, the Department of Education (DepEd) said on Tuesday it has offered psychological counseling to its personnel starting with Region 6, one of the hardest-hit area in the country.

ILOILO CITY, July 15 – The Metro Iloilo Water District (MIWD) has advised its concessionaires to still continue boiling their drinking water until further notice. MIWD officer-in-charge Ernesto Caberoy said that although today about 70 per cent of their pipelines have already been repaired and restored, still they would like their concessionaires to boil their drinking water because of the possible leakage in their transmission lines.

SUBIC, Zambales, July 15 -- An electrical engineer was in critical condition when he suffered burns in different parts of his body while working at Hanjin Heavy Industries Co., Ltd., at Redondo Peninsula in Sitio Agusuhin, Barangay Cawag of this town, Monday night. Zambales Provincial Police Office (ZPPO), Director Sr. Supt. Rolando Felix, identified the victim as Engineer Alexander Bautista, 23, a resident of San Antonio, Nueva Ecija.

DAGUPAN CITY, July 15 — The Department of Education on Tuesday suspended classes in elementary and high school level following the flooding in some low-lying areas in Pangasinan. Low-lying areas in Dagupan, particularly Arellano Street, just in front of the Region 1 Medical Center and the Di-Or Village are submerged due to the high tide from adjacent river since Tuesday morning. The high tide did not spare stores in the downtown area on the right side of A.B. Fernandez Avenue, near the Pantal River.

By Lilybeth G. Ison

MANILA, July 14 -- Despite soaring rice prices worldwide, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on Monday said the Philippines continues to sell the cheapest rice in the Southeast Asian region.

By Lilybeth G. Ison

MANILA, July 14 -- Despite controversies on the project and after years of delay in operation, the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 3 will have a dry run on July 23 with initial 23 domestic flights per day.

MANILA, July 14 — To insure that the rights of the consumers will be guarded against “predatory pricing” in oil products, the Department of Energy (DOE) and Department of Justice (DOJ) signed Monday a memorandum creating a task force which will monitor incidents of cartelization and investigate persons or groups involved in unreasonable prices of petroleum products.

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga, July 14 -– Cases of dengue in Pampanga has soared to 755, the Regional Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit (RESU3) of the Department of Health (DOH) said.

DUMAGUETE CITY, July 14 -- Philippine National Police (PNP) provincial director Sr. Supt. Augusto Morales Marquez is preparing a letter-request for PNP chief Director General Avelino Razon Jr. to consider Negros Oriental a priority area in the recruitment of additional police personnel.

By Malou Dungog

SUBIC BAY FREEPORT, July 14 — Confronted with another fatal accident at the Hanjin Heavy Industries Corp.-Philippines (HHIC-Phil) shipyard here on Saturday, the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) stopped operations of the Korean company on Monday and warned that it will impose further “legal and regulatory measures” should the shipbuilder fail to comply with health and safety requirements.

BRGY. STO. NINO, Gandara, Western Samar, July 13 (PNA) -– President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will formally open to the public the recently completed Gandara-Matuguinao bridge during her visit here on Tuesday (July 15).

OSLO, Norway, July 14 --- Starting July 15, 2008 passports applicants at the Philippine Embassy in Oslo would be issued Machine Readable Passports (MRP), the embassy announced here recently.

MANILA, July 13 (PNA) — Supreme Court (SC) Chief Justice Reynato S. Puno pledged all the energy of the judiciary in making justice more accessible to the less fortunate Filipinos.

VIGAN CITY, July 13 -- Secretary Domingo Panganiban of the National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC) has urged local officials to encourage residents to continuously plant malunggay in all vacant lots to be assured of cheap but nutritious food for the body. Attending a meeting of key government agencies involved in the national "Kalahi" convergence program at the Cabugao Beach Resort, Panganiban cited the significant food nutrients derived from malunggay that could really save a lot of Filipinos in case of food crisis. “A cup of malunggay leaves boiled in water is equivalent to three glasses of milk; it is also equivalent to five pieces of carrots in terms of calcium or potassium and in terms of beta carotene and vitamin A; and it is also equivalent to four pieces of banana of the "lakatan" variety”, Panganiban said. “Malunggay leaves when grounded into powder is the best nutritious ingredient in baking bread,” he added.

By Mike U. Crismundo

BUTUAN CITY, July 13 -– "The communist New People’s Army (NPA) have turned into criminal group, bandits and extortionists,” Maj. Gen. Jogy Leo Fojas, commanding general of the Army’s Southern Mindanao 10th Infantry (Agila) Division, on Sunday said.

MANILA, Philippines - A magnitude 6 earthquake rocked Batanes in Northern Luzon late Sunday night although no damage or casualty was reported, state seismology experts said on Monday. The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) public information office said the that the quake occurred around 10:58 p.m. on Sunday, with its epicenter estimated some 113 kilometers north and 70 degrees west of Basco, Batanes.

MANILA, July 10 — Sulpicio Lines Inc.'s (SLI) campaign to charge government and private agencies in connection with the sinking of their fleet flagship is part of the shipping company’s campaign to muddle and confuse the public on who is really liable for the capsizing of M/V Princess of the Stars last June 21, Department of Justice (DOJ) secretary Raul Gonzalez said.

MANILA, July 10 -- National Food Authority (NFA) Administrator Jessup P. Navarro said the agency will bring into the market some 28 million bags of rice nationwide in the next six months to stabilize supply and to preempt any possible spiraling of prices especially during the lean months.

MANILA, July 10 - Sen. Edgardo J. Angara on Thursday warned that suspending the expanded value added tax (E-VAT) on oil will deplete government resources for food and electricity subsidies. He said the proposal to scrap the E-VAT on oil requires a serious study because of its implication.

DAVAO CITY, July 10 -- All systems go for this year’s “Indak-Indak sa Kadalanan” (street dancing), one of the highlights of the 23rd “Kadayawan sa Dabaw Festival”, the mother of all festivals here, said City Councilor Edgar R. Ibuyan, chairman of the “Indak-Indak” committee since 2003.

ZAMBOANGA CITY, July 10 - The Commission on Higher Education 9 (CHED) has noted a drop in the enrollment of students in the college level since some students have opted to take up two-year vocational courses offered by some schools and the Technical Education Skills and Development Authority or TESDA.

ILOILO CITY, July 10 -– Around 48 elementary pupils from the town of Tubungan in the First District of Iloilo province have been reported poisoned after eating their hot meals today.

MANILA, July 9 -- The rich, not the poor, will benefit from the suspension of the expanded value-added tax (EVAT) on oil, Finance Undersecretary Gil Beltran said today.

MANILA, July 8 - Petron Corporation has announced last night that it is rolling back the price of its gasoline by P1 per liter. Raffy Ledesma, media affairs officer of Petron, said that the P1 per liter roll back will take effect midnight tonight (Wednesday).

By Gloria Jane Baylon

MANILA, July 9 — Seventy-one schools of nursing which have not yet complied with the professional curricular requirements set by CMO-05 of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) have only until 2009 to do so or else they will face sanctions including withholding granting the Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) baccalaureate degree. This was aired today by the CHED’s Technical Committee for Nursing Education (TCNE), chaired by Dr. Ma. Teresita Sy-Sinda, dean of the Silliman University College of Nursing in Dumaguete City.

ILOILO CITY, July 9 -– Classes in all public elementary and high schools in this city will resume on Monday, July 14 after the city government and the Division of City Schools earlier agreed for their cancellation as an aftermath of Typhoon Frank.

By Lynda B. Valencia

MANILA, July 9 -- The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) will start in August this year the construction of the Bogo-Curva-Medellin-Daanbantayan-Maya road in northern Cebu that will help in cutting down the travel time of cargo trucks going in and out of the Visayas region. Director Josefino Rigor of Region VII reported to DPWH Secretary Hermogenes Ebdane, Jr. that the project was recently awarded to the contractor (Jegma Construction and Development Corp.) and it would be finished within four months.

DAGUPAN CITY, July 9 — The total population of Pangasinan as of August 2007 now stands at 2,645,395 based on the final results of the latest Census of Population (POPCEN) conducted by the National Statistics Office (NSO). The results down to the barangay level were included in the national POPCEN result that was made official with the signing by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo of Proclamation No. 1489 on April 16, 2008.